Isaac

Hello! (David here.) I know lots of you are faithful to pray for our family, so I wanted to give you an update on something new that God seems to be doing in us. One night a few weeks ago I was having trouble sleeping, and was feeling very unsettled. I began to pray, and felt strongly that the Lord wanted to share something with me. As I prayed, a vivid picture took shape in my mind.

There was a little boy, about two or three years old, Haitian (I think). He seemed pensive, and was completely alone. Destruction surrounded him, and there were no other people anywhere within sight. He was dressed in a too small cotton shirt with horizontal lines of different faded colors. He looked sad, and he was looking for something.

I found myself praying for him, and I felt like the thing he was searching for was his family. I sensed that his name is Isaac, and that he is an orphan in Haiti. This picture is still so clear in my mind -- I would recognize him if I saw him.

I really don't know if this "vision" was from the Lord, but I felt strongly as if it was. Heather and I are praying about what this means -- will you please pray with and for us?

Specifically, we are asking God if He is calling us to adopt, and if so, when. (and how!)
We are praying that God will provide for Isaac. (whether he is a real boy, or a representation of real children)
We are praying that if he is our son, God will unite him with us.
We are asking God to open doors and give us the wisdom to walk through them.

Thank you all for your support and love.

Disconnected... :)

Well, my attempts to update the blog with pictures has been thwarted yet again. Our laptop died a couple of months ago and we replaced it. However, it was no longer compatible with the router, so we replaced the wireless router as well. Unfortunately, we still have only sporadic internet connection at best. So, the next post will likely be a very long one!

Laura and I are feeling better, praise God! That was a LONG three weeks of illness! It was every bit as difficult as I imagined it would be... long nights, stuffy noses, sleeping beside the crib on the floor, coughs and sneezes, confounding blue suction bulbs, vicks plug-ins.... But, God has been faithful and we are both feeling much better. (However, I woke up last night with a sore throat. No!!!!!!! Please pray that God spares me from another illness, at least until after Christmas.)

Drayton had his first band concert last week and it was lots of fun. He did a great job! They played Hot Cross Buns and Jingle Bells. He has come along way in the past five weeks of learning to play the trombone. Makenzie's Chorus concert is tonight and we're really looking forward to that as well. We spent some time last weekend practicing the kids' songs for church and I was able to accompany (although not very well :) on the piano. Nevertheless, we had lots of laughs and fun!

That's all for now... busy day ahead, but hopefully, lots of pictures to come when our internet connection is re-established on the laptop. Please pray that God repairs it soon!

We're still here...

Bet you wonder where we've been! Well, a lot has happened in the past few weeks. We've been busy as usual, but no blogging because our computer crashed. Actually, it was a Dell that I purchased in residency quite some time ago and it has served us well for the past few years. The only sad thing is (I know, I know...) we didn't back up our hard drive. It's one of those things that I always had on my list to do, but never actually did it. Fortunately, David was able to get a really good deal on an HP laptop that we are really enjoying. It's so much faster! We'll try to take our old laptop to the repair store to see if they can retrieve anything from the hard drive. I'm so glad I print most of our pictures, so we haven't really lost anything that can't be replaced. We have been diligently (for the first time!) keeping a budget for the past seven months and I'll have to re-format our budgeting spreadsheets, but that certainly isn't a devastating loss. Probably a good thing... it's been quite tempting to agonize over the budget and finances since I lost my job. God has really been teaching me to trust in Him to provide for our every need. It's one of those tricky things... I really want to trust Him wholeheartedly, without reservation, in the area of finances. I certainly don't want to learn by difficult trials that He is able to provide. Sadly, I don't think I have trusted completely in His provision. I pray that He will soften my heart and teach me just how easy it is for Him to meet our needs (He has met our needs time and time again and shows us countless times in the Word that He lavishes good gifts on His children).

Laura's five month birthday is tomorrow. I can hardly believe it! She is growing up so quickly!!!! She is officially rolling over now (which makes naptime really interesting!). She rolls from her tummy to her back and thinks it's super funny until she realizes she can't roll the other way -then she gets mad. :) We've also tried some solids with her again and... she loves it! So far, we've just continued with brown rice and squash, but I offered her some bananas this morning. Not sure if she's fond of bananas just yet. She made plenty of funny faces and raspberries. Naptime is getting better. Thank you for praying!!!! I really believe that your prayers are working!!! Laura is napping more consistently overall, although we still have bad days and our schedule still isn't predictable. Now, we're working on night-time wakenings. She is still waking two times each night (yawn.....). I typically nurse her for her first wakening and try to soothe her back to sleep for the second. Please keep praying as we help her to get on a schedule that serves us all and keeps her well rested.

Drayton has been busy playing the trombone. He's doing great! He's learned five notes already and seems to be enjoying it. It's quite comical in the evenings now with a trombone player in the living room, an infant napping upstairs, a Mommy trying to cook supper, and Makenzie doing homework. Sheesh! Speaking of Makenzie... no more braces! Yippee!! She looks super-cute and much older without her braces. I'll have to post some pictures of that as well. Makenzie really enjoys playing with Laura and is always a big help. She loves to hold her any chance she can.

That's all for today! Thanks for checking in! I'll try to post some pictures in the near future...

Argh.....

THANK YOU to those of you who left comments, sent e-mails, made phone calls... about sleep training. I am so grateful for the advice of so many great moms! Please continue to e-mail or leave comments about helpful sleep training tips you've learned.

So, we're trying a few different things these days... later bedtime, earlier waketime, stretching out feedings... just to name a few. Saturday was perhaps the most frustrating, although comical, day in the last few weeks. Laura only sleeps 45 minute stretches for me, so I was curious to see how she would do when she was home alone with David on Saturday while I worked. SHE TOOK TWO 2 HOUR NAPS!!!!! No kidding!!! I didn't know whether to laugh or cry. :) So, whenever we are both at home, I've asked him to observe her and make the call when she eats/naps, just to gain his perspective. She took another two hour nap when I left to go grocery shopping last night and David was home with her again. Sheesh! I'm sure glad I have a wonderful husband who has really profound parenting instincts and loves his little girl.

That's all for now! Better get to work! Oh, one more thing... I will be starting Laura on brown rice cereal (Thanks, Traci!!!!) soon (if she's interested) and would welcome your suggestions on baby feeding. Thanks!

Four months!!!!

Our sweet baby is 4 months old! She had her well-child check up yesterday and did very well!

Here are her stats:

Height 24 1/2 inches (50th percentile)

Weight 14lb 10oz (75th percentile)

Laura is growing! She did really well with her immunizations (and I didn't come nearly as close to passing out this time! Let me just say that it is much easier being a physician than being a mommy!). She has a slight fever today, but doesn't seem to be bothered by it in the least. Overall, she got a really good report from her pediatrician. She does have a bit of torticollis (she tends to tilt her head to the left and rotate it to the right). That's probably because she is a tummy sleeper (I know, I know... we attempted to have her sleep on her back from birth, but she just wouldn't sleep. It's difficult enough to get her to sleep at all, so we reluctantly put her on her tummy and she seemed to sleep so much better. I still advocate back sleeping overall, but this seems to work for us right now. We sure did a lot of praying, though! I'm working with her now to try to teach her to be more comfortable sleeping on her back during naps... no real luck yet. )

I spoke with her pediatrician about introducing some solids, but I still think it's not time. Initially, I was going to wait until 6 months to start cereal. However, she still isn't sleeping through the night (usually gets up 1-2 times!!!!!!!), so I planned to start cereal at 4 months. She doesn't have great trunk/head control yet when sitting upright, so I think we'll wait another month. I'm really excited to introduce her to cereal and baby food! I purchased a food mill and borrowed a food processor with hopes that we'll be able to make her own baby food. Any suggestions or helpful hints from your experience?

Laura's sleeping habits have been a real frustration for me. I've read (and read and read...) blogs, books, websites on infant sleep and I'm still confounded. BabyWise was recommended to me when Laura was about 8 weeks old and we've been attempting to get her on a regular eat, wake, sleep cycle. However, she has not been able to nap for more than 45 minutes at a time for quite some time now. She goes to sleep fairly easily, but wakes 42-45 minutes into her nap (which ideally should be about 1 1/2 hours). Occasionally, I can get her to go back to sleep during her first morning nap, but rarely does she fall back asleep for any of her other naps. Thankfully, she's a pretty content baby, despite lack of sleep. Please pray for us that Laura would begin to nap better and that I would have patience and endurance through the process. It's frustrating, but I try to remember that this is really a short season in light of eternity and one day I'll look back on these days longingly (well, maybe not the sleepless nights!).

One last aside... the other day I was speaking with an administrator from a practice that I might be working for on occasion. When I was sharing with him some of the challenges of having an infant at home, he said, "It's almost like having a second profession, isn't it?" Respectfully, I think that is really inaccurate. Parenting (whether you have to work outside the home or not) is our primary "profession." Loving my husband, managing my home, and mothering our little girl is my full time job and I'm so grateful for the privilege of bearing these responsibilities. The time that I spend away from my home at work, regardless of the number of hours, is by far a distant rank with respect to my chief responsibilities in life. I view my medical profession as tentmaking of sorts. It allows me to bring in extra income to help my husband in financially providing for our family. Although I enjoy it, it pales in comparison with the joy I receive from my other responsibilities.

Thanks for reading! Would you please pray for us? Please pray that Laura's naps would improve, that she would sleep for longer stretches at night, and that I would have the strength and stamina to care for her and for our home while working?

Also, PLEASE leave comments for us regarding your experience with infant sleep/nap patterns. What has been helpful for you? What did your baby do at 4 months of age? I could really use the encouragement and advice. Thank you!

Whew!!!!

Life has been a whirlwind since we returned from PA. Here are a few highlights... although, not in chronological order - since I managed to post my pictures in reverse order again! :)

We had a delightful time in Pennsylvania visiting family and friends. I was incredibly nervous about the drive up, because Laura is not a good napper and she rarely sleeps in the car. It took us about 11 hours to get to PA and Laura, true to form, slept only TWO HOURS!!! However, she was cheerful most of the day - at least as long as her Oma was entertaining her. I'm so grateful that my mom was able to join us. I couldn't have made the trip without her. Laura sure does love her Oma and Oma really enjoyed spending some quality time with her grandbaby.

We visited my Nana (my Mom's mom) the day after we arrived. Nana is 86 years old and doesn't get to leave her home very much these days, so I think our visit was a bright spot in her day. I hadn't seen her in over a year, so I was grateful for the opportunity to visit with her.

My dear friends, Cathy and Craig Horlacher, hosted us for the entire duration of the trip. They excel at hospitality! Despite the recent birth of their little girl, Allanah (7 weeks old), they graciously opened their home to us. It was so nice to have a home base during our stay.

On Sunday, we visited on of my favorite places on earth, Living Hope Church. Home sweet home!! It was so wonderful to see dear friends and to introduce them to Laura. We enjoyed a lovely lunch with Ken and Beth Mellinger and had a surprise visit from Ryan and Marcia McCarty. (Aside - I had prayed for God to cross my path with Marcia once again a few weeks ago. Marcia and I got to know each other during my Residency in York, PA. That same week, Marcia and her husband were praying to reconnect with me. They searched the internet and found my blog and contacted me through a blog comment. Wow!!!! God is amazing!! Ryan and Marcia came to Living Hope to visit and to see us. It was a treat to see these dear friends again!)

My Aunt Sue and Amanda came to visit for TWO WHOLE DAYS!!! It is always a joy to see these dear sisters in Christ. We had so much fun visiting and just enjoying each other's company. I love them!

Ann Smith and her little boy, Aaron, came to visit us Monday morning. Have I posted about our story? If not, I'll have to do that some day soon. Ann, Cathy, and I have been friends for only five years, but it seems like a lifelong friendship. God has been so faithful to us, all married in the same year, all have had babies within months of each other. These sweet ladies have been such a blessing to me over the years. Their friendship helped to make my single years rich in fellowship.


My mom and I made the long journey home again and she did a great job of caring for Laura. We had lots of laughs along the way!

Perhaps my favorite part of the trip was coming home to my dear husband. He wasn't feeling well all weekend, but wanted to bless me by doing projects around the house. He re-did the landscaping in our front yard, did the laundry, vacuumed, cared for Drayton and Makenzie, put flowers around the house, bought some little gifts for me, and had the house nice and tidy for my return. Wow! I sure do love him!

Whew! That's a brief update of our adventure. I posted a few pictures from our time in PA and from Drayton's birthday party below.

The crazy guys from Drayton's party :)

Happy 12th birthday, Buddy!

Uncle Sean and Aunt Rachel

I'm 4 months old!!!!

No stats yet... Laura's check-up is next week.

New tricks: blowing raspberries, grabbing her feet, sticking out her tongue, laughing, putting everything in her mouth, sucking her thumb

Too cute!

Laura's dear friend, Mac. He adores her and is so gentle with her!

Yay! We've been hoping she would find her thumb and she seems to have done it. She prefers her left thumb... will she be a lefty like Uncle Sean?

Ann's son, Aaron trying to put the moves on Laura.... hehehe.

We put Alannah, Aaron, and Laura on the couch together. They were so funny. I almost wet my pants laughing!!!!!! Laura was such a ham - she flashed her tummy at all of us!

Sweet, sweet friends and our sweet, sweet babies. God is so kind!!!!!

Alannah and Laura

Nana, Oma (my Mom), me, and Laura

The End!!!

On the road again...

Laura, my mom and I are headed to Pennsylvania tomorrow morning. I'm really looking forward to catching up with friends and family. I'm curious to see how the trip will go. The trip is 7-8 hours with two quick stops. I anticipate that it will be closer to 10 with stops for feeding and stretch breaks for Laura. Please pray for us as we head north.


Please pray also that we stay healthy. Swine flu is all around us and we certainly don't want to catch it or share it with our dear friends. We'll be staying with Cathy, Craig and Alannah (6 wks old), so we need to be healthy.



We plan to visit mostly family and friends from Living Hope Church in the few short days we have in PA. I would like to pack in many more visits with friends during our time there, but I think it's wise to keep it simple for this trip until I learn the nuances of traveling with an infant. Of course, by the time I figure it out, she'll be a toddler and we'll have new tricks to learn!



On the work front... it's been fun!!! I have worked three shifts so far and I am really enjoying it. I haven't worked more than 5 hours at a time (usually 3 hours) and my parents have been watching Laura. God has been so kind to provide this unique way to work for short periods of time and have Laura stay with family. The only unfortunate thing is that, in urgent care, we primarily see patients who are ill - namely with H1N1. So, I wear a mask and use plenty of hand sanitizer and cover it all in prayer. I'm pretty sure Dray and Kenzie have already had it and David, Laura, and I have managed to stay clear of it. Thank you, Lord! We pray that God spares our little one from H1N1 and seasonal flu. My heart is regularly tempted to fear for her health, but David has been kind to remind me that God is sovereign over our health and, if she does become ill, there is healing in the name of Jesus. Amen!



David preached again on Sunday. He did a fantastic job! We have been going through a series on what it means to love Charlotte. David was asked to finish the series with a sermon entitled "What will happen when we love Charlotte?" God will be glorified, of course, but David fleshed out what that will look like for us and for those we are called to love. He said that people have three responses: either they will openly and lovingly accept our love and sharing of the Gospel, they will be indifferent, or they will be hostile. We need to be prepared to love especially those who are hostile to the Gospel. He read several accounts of missionaries around the world who are doing just that and often losing their lives for the sake of the Gospel. It was a sobering, yet encouraging message. Too often, we settle for a warm and fuzzy Gospel in an effort to please people in hopes that they will lovingly accept the truth. Are we willing to share the truth of the Gospel (in love, of course) when the recipient becomes hostile toward us? It really gave me a lot to think about. You can listen to the sermon (and other sermons by Euan as well) on http://www.catalystchurchcharlotte.com/.



That's all for now... better get packing, laundering, cleaning, cooking.... Lord, help me to finish the tasks of the day. Thanks again for praying for us! Enjoy the photos!










Our little girl is getting so big! She sure does love to eat!

Crazy Hair!!!!!

Breaking free! I guess her feet got hot during the night. :)

Baby toes....

... and belly buttons!